Roundup of the Round of 16 action in 2023-24 UEFA Europa Conference League.
Aston Villa looked to extend their fairytale run as the sole British representative left in this competition, but faced tricky opposition in a round which delivered plenty of drama across both legs in all eight ties.
Servette 0-0 Viktoria Plzen (Viktoria Plzen win 3-1 on penalties)
Both legs finished goalless but Viktoria Plzen prevailed 3-1 on penalties after Miroslav Stevanovic, Yoan Severin and Keigo Tsunemoto missed their spot-kicks for Servette.
Ajax 4-0 Aston Villa
Ajax held Villa to a goalless first leg in Amsterdam in which Tristian Gooijer and Villa’s Ezri Konsa were shown red cards.
Ollie Watkins headed Villa towards the Quarter-Finals with a 25th minute header before goals from Leon Bailey, Jhon Duran and Moussa Diaby wrapped up a 4-0 aggregate win in the second leg.
Molde 2-4 Club Brugge
Frederik Gulbrandsen netted a 92nd minute first-leg winner for Molde after Halldor Stenevik’s opening goal was cancelled out by Maxim De Cuper’s 85th minute penalty.
Andreas Skov Olsen’s brace plus Michal Skoras’ 70th minute goal saw Club Brugge win the second leg 3-0 at home, which secured a 4-2 aggregate win for the Belgian club, having trailed 2-1 from the first leg.
Union SG 1-3 Fenerbahce
Goals from Michy Batshuayi, Jayden Oosterwolde and Dusan Tadic’s penalty saw Fenerbahce win the first leg 3-0 away in Brussels.
Fenerbahce ultimately progressed 3-1 on aggregate after suffering a 1-0 home loss in the second leg, as Matias Rasmussen scored a 68th minute winner for Union Saint-Gilloise.
Dinamo Zagreb 3-5 PAOK
Bruno Petkovic’s brace saw Dinamo Zagreb win the first leg 2-0 at home, yet Arber Hoxha’s second leg goal couldn’t prevent a 5-1 away loss in the second leg, as PAOK prevailed 5-3 on aggregate in which Konstantinos Koulierakis scored twice.
Ex Chelsea defender – Baba Rahman was also on the scoresheet for the Greek hosts at home alongside Brandon and Andrija Zivkovic.
Sturm Graz 1-4 Lille
Jonathan David’s brace and Edon Zhegrova’s effort saw Lille win 3-0 away from home in the first leg in Graz.
Tiago Santos sealed Lille’s progression as 4-1 aggregate winners despite a 1-1 draw at home in the second leg, after Mika Biereth netted a first-half injury-time consolatory goal for Sturm Graz.
Maccabi Haifa 4-5 Fiorentina
Antonin Barak netted a 95th minute winner as Fiorentina won the first leg 4-3 against Maccabi Haifa on neutral ground in Budapest, Hungary, in which M’Bala Nzola, Lucas Beltran and Rolando Mandragora also scored for the Italian team.
Barak added a further goal as Fiorentina claimed a 1-1 draw at home to advance 5-4 on aggregate, despite Anan Khalaily’s late consolatory goal for the Israelian club.
Olympiacos 7-5 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Eran Zahavi scored twice to fire Maccabi Tel Aviv to a 4-1 first leg win at Olympiacos, with Ido Shahar and Dor Peretz also on the scoresheet despite Ayoub El Kaabi’s 13th minute consolatory goal for the Greek hosts.
Zahavi’s 57th minute penalty ultimately couldn’t prevent Maccabi Tel Aviv losing the second leg 6-1 to crash out 7-5 on aggregate after extra-time as El Kaabi struck twice in Olympiacos’ comeback – as Daniel Podence, Konstantinos Fortounis, Stevan Jovetic and Youssef El-Arabi also scored.
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